Chaff separator



CHAFF M. T. MOLER SEPARATOR Filed June 20, 1947 qooouooooooooooooooooooo o 6 j m 9000002000000000000000000 o no oaowoocoooooooooooooooooo o oooowmooooooooooooooooo 0 one wmooooooooooooooooo o 000000 00000000000000 0 000000000. cio 0000000 0 0000000000000 ooooooo 0 000000000000 0 12/000000 o oooooooooooooow 0000 o oooooooooooovoooo 00 o 00000600 00 O OOOQPQOHM o o A? o o 4 0000 o 000 00 0 7 000000000 0 o oooooooooo 000 00000 $0000 7 000 o 0000000 00000000 {2 0000000000 000 00 0000 0000000000000 00000000000000 0o ooooooooooooooooooo 000 I2 (DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 00090 ouomooOOoOOOoOoOoOoOOoo 0000000 1 moowooooooooooooooooo0o ooooooooo mam nuooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooomeoone moooomaoooooooooooooooo0 oooooooomoooaoooo eooowmooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooomooeoo 0000000000000000OOOOOOOOOO O0O0000OO000000 OoOOooooOoowoooca {4 e L i 23 h', I W 3:? A" ,in 2:! I a} 6 I 2 i 5 f5 irzzjaniai" r! j Maurine ZJYflier Patented May 30, 1950 PATENT OFFICE CHAFF SEPARATOR Maurice T. Moler, Chicago, 11]., assignor to United Specialties Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application June 20,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for use in removing chaff or comparable material from a volume of air which is drawn into an enclosed space. It has for one object to provide a chaff separator or chaff screen for use in connection --with air cleaners.

Another object is to provide a chaff separator which is self-cleaning.

Another object is to provide a chaff separator of such construction that chaff and comparable material will not be lodged or caught in the sepa rator, and will be free to fall away when the speed of the column of air entering the device is reduced sufiiciently.

Other objects will appear from time to time in the specification and claims.

The invention is illustrated more or less dia grammatically in the accompanying drawing in a figure which is a partial cross section through one form of the device with parts shown in section and parts shown in elevation.

Like parts are indicated by like characters in the specification and drawing.

As shown, the separator is mounted about an intake pipe I which may be connected to a carburetor or to a cleaner of any type. A spider 2 is provided with an outwardly flared or spaced portion 3 which is fitted about the upper end of the tube I. A clamp t positioned about the spider portion 3 is effective to hold the parts together.

The spider is provided with one or more openings 5 through which air may enter. The material of the spider is preferably upwardly bent about the margins of the openings as at 6. The spider terminates in a peripheral flange I.

A dome 8 is positioned above the spider and is formed to provide an outwardly directed flange 9 which is positioned upon the flange 1. An inwardly bent integral portion Iii clamps the flange I of the spider.

The chaff separating member comprises a perforated, generally cylindrical member II. The perforations in that member are indicated as at I2. A disc-like member I3, which is preferably not perforated, is provided with an upwardly extending peripheral flange M which is positioned about the separating member ll and serves as a support for it. The member I I may be permanently secured to the flange I l by welding or otherwise, or may merel be fitted within it. Attached to or formed integrally with the member I3 is a tubular portion I5 of such size that it may fit over the tube I. A clamp l6 holds the member I5, and consequently the member I3 and the cylindrical member which it supports, in the posi- 1947, Serial No. 755,863

'tion shown. The member I l is thus held in place and its upper edge abuts against the bottom surface of the member In.

Although I have shown an operative form of 5 my invention, it will be recognized that many changes in the form, shape and arrangement of parts can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and my showing is there fore to be taken as, in a sense, diagrammatic.

The use and operation of this invention are as follows:

The device as shown is mounted upon a member through which a column of air or gas is to be drawn. 'One use of the device is in connection with tractors which are to be driven through fields or used in an atmosphere in which chaff and comparable foreign material will be carried by the column of air, The perforations are of such size that chaff cannot pass through them, and hence the chaff is filtered or separated from the air as it enters the perforations I2. The suction exerted by the air passing through these perforations may cause the chaff to adhere to the exterior of the member II. The perforations will not be clogged sufficiently to interfere with the passage of the air because of their large number. The device is thus effective in removing the chaff and comparable material from the entering column of air, and at the same time is not clogged to any important degree by the chaff.

When the volume of entering air is reduced to below a predetermined maximum, its suction is no longer effective to hold the chaff in place on the outside of the member I I. When that occurs, 35 the chaff merely falls to the ground or is blown away. The device is thus self-cleaning. If used on a tractor, pulling a harvester or combine or other implement through a field of grain or hay, the chafi will tend to accumulate on the exterior of the member I I While the machine is driven the length of one row, and when the engine is slowed down as the machine is turned to drive the next row, the flow of entering air is no longer sufficient to hold the chaff in place, and thus the chaff is freed and falls to the ground, or it blows away. The device is thus cleaned or cleared as the result of variations in the conditions of use, which variations are necessary in the use of the machine on which the chaff separator is mounted. Where in the specification and claims the word chafi is used, it is to be understood as: referring not merely to "chafi but to foreign matter physically comparable to chaff. Fine dust is not included in the meaning of this word and will not be stopped by the device of the present invention.

I claim:

1. In combination in a chafi separator, a member defining an inlet passage, and a chafi separating member positioned outside of said inlet passage member in the path of entering air, said chafi separating member being provided with a smooth exterior and with a multiplicity of small openings, said openings being sufficiently large for fine dust to pass therethrough and sufilcientl'y' small to prevent the entrance of chafi, and an air impervious hood positionedabove said inlet passage and joined to said separating member, and a flared extension joined to said inlet passage member and to said hood and engaging said separating member.

2. In combination in a chaff separator, means defining a vertically disposed inlet passage, and an upwardly and outward fiared member secured adjacent the upper end of said passage, said out- 3. In combination in a chaff separator, a down- 4 wardly directed, upwardly open air intake pip, an outwardly flared perforated member fixed about the upper end of said pipe, an imperforate dome-shaped member fixed to the outer edge 01 said flared member and extending upwardly therefrom, and an imperforate generally flat member fixed to said pipe below said outwardly flared member and of substantially the same diameter as said member, and a cylindrical per forated smooth member positioned about said pipe beneath said flared member and above said generally fiat member and held in place by said generally flat member, the diameter of said cylindrical member being approximately that of said flared member and said flat member.

MAURICE T. MOLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,359,879 Dollinger Nov. 23, 1923 1,406,299 Sturt et a1. Feb. 14, 1922 1,430,475 Tarvin Sept. 26,1922

' 1,619,954 Olmstead et a1 Mar. 8, 1927 1,770,774 Hackett July 15, 1930 1,918,006 Walton July 11, 1933 2,020,120 Leathers NOV. 5, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 255,165 Great Britain Apr. 19, 1921 

